1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for identifying and retrieving targeted advertisements or documents related to one or more search requests.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Online search has exploded over the past few years, both in horizontal and vertical sectors. This in turn has provided more and more opportunity for targeted advertising. Online search platforms selling targeted advertising include, but are not limited to, Google, Yahoo, and Live.
Presently, there are known to the inventor(s) two methods for serving targeted advertisements: keyword advertising and contextual advertising. With keyword advertising, advertisers select and purchase a keyword (or multiple keywords) to activate when an advertisement is displayed. For example, an advertiser might purchase the keyword ‘toilets’ from Google. When a visitor to Google is searching for the matching query ‘toilets,’ a corresponding advertisement is typically displayed. When a visitor is searching for ‘chairs,’ the ‘toilet’ advertisement will typically not be displayed, because contextually chairs may not be considered relevant to toilets. In recent years, keyword advertising has been expanded somewhat to work with a synonym dictionary such to broaden opportunity for serving a keyword advertisement, but the core logic remains the same, beginning and ending with the keyword.
Contextual advertising builds upon keyword advertising but extends the application to non-search web pages. In one such example, Google AdSense technology scans the text displayed on a participating web page for keywords, and then returns advertisements to that web page based on dominant keywords. Again, this method begins and ends with the keyword.
Accordingly, the above referenced methods require that an advertiser must first identify and purchase all relevant keywords, which is a growing challenge in today's information-based world, and may present insurmountable challenges in vertical sectors. For example, expanding on the same ‘toilets’ example above, what is to occur when a visitor is searching for either ‘tankless toilets’ or ‘wall mount lavatories’? The ‘toilets’ advertisement may not be displayed and the advertiser will have lost an opportunity to present its wares or services to a buying customer. Because of these technical problems with using keyword-based advertising, entire industries have developed where consultants are paid to improve the effectiveness of an advertiser's targeted keyword based ads.
Thus, due to the present inefficient methods for displaying targeted advertisements, much inventory rests unsold, and therefore wasted.
The invention described herein presents new systems and methods for serving targeted advertisements—referred to herein as result-based advertising. Generally speaking, the above-described technical problems are solved, in while or in part, by a technical solution in which advertisements are displayed based on the results returned in response to any given query, not matching keyword(s).